Progress
by CMW2
Summary: COMPANION PIECE/SEQUEL TO BOYFRIEND:Mark/Lexie fic-The aftermath of the Bar confrontation told mainly in Meredith and George's POVs;Rated for language;6th in my 2011 SSS Project


**Author's Note: One thing I'm very good at is ignoring TV plot lines that I hate, especially plot lines that unnecessarily break up my ships for seasons at a time. My mom still watches **_**Grey's **_**religiously and I am absolutely disgusted at what they've done to Mark and Lexie.**

**In order to calm my restless muse and work out this righteous rage (and to get my story posted number back to an even number because I don't like it when it's odd or indivisible by 5 because I have a mild form of number OCD), I'm going to return to the Season 5 AU I came up with in **_**Boyfriend **_**and type a sequel. I hope you guys enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer: "Honestly, it's not mine!"**

"Can I sit with you?"

"Why? There's room at the table of people you actually care about." Mark Sloan asked between bites of his apple.

"_**Mark**_."

"What?"

"You _**know**_ what. Sit down, Meredith."

Meredith Grey sat in the chair across from them and said, "Don't _**Mark**_ him. He's right to be mad. I've been a bitch to you for damn near a year and I made George throw you out into the freakin' basement."

"You have your reasons for being a bitch and last time I checked, George's a grown man…shut up, Mark…and can make his own decisions. You may have suggested it but he didn't have to do it.", Lexie Grey replied with her typical niceness, even as she sipped soup to fight off her cold, the cold_** she**_ had helped her get…

God, it would be easier if she'd yell at her! Yelling she could deal with because of years with Ellis Grey but niceness…no, she could do this! She had to do this! She promised her conscience and Derek that she'd do this!

"It's _**still**_ not right and this sucks royally. I can't even be a decent big sister without letting all the crap in my head and life ruin it. Maybe I was wrong when I said I was whole and healed but…I'm sorry. Okay, I'm _**sorry**_. I'm sorry for being such a cow to you. I'm sorry for blaming you for Thatcher being…Thatcher. I'm sorry for blaming you and Molly and whoever else in your family for _**my **_sucky childhood. And I'm _**really**_ sorry for trying to screw up whatever this is you've got going on with Mark. I certainly can't judge anyone's relationship choices and…well, look at him. You've been good for him! He's not McSteamy, anymore! Well, he _**is**_ because he definitely is steamy but he's not the scourge of the nurses anymore and he's not that much of a jerk to the interns and…"

"Big Grey, you're rambling." he pointed out laughingly.

"I _**know**_ that! I'm not an idiot… my point is that I want to say I'm sorry to both of you and I don't expect either one of you to forgive me right away or at all. I mean, he's still pissed at me for the whole Rose thing and then I had the nerve to try to mess up his McRelationship with you…"

"I'll work on him, Meredith." Lexie assured her.

"You're gonna work on me?" Mark asked her skeptically, making her look at him with a surprising amount of sass.

"Yeah, I am. Little Grey's gonna make it so the Big Bad Sloan isn't King Crankypants, anymore to her sister." Lexie declared before resolutely folding her arms.

"Talking in the 3rd person is obnoxious and…_**King Crankypants?**_ Seriously?"

"I didn't stutter."

"I wish you did."

"I wish _**you'd **_shut up."

"You can't talk to me like that. I'm your boss."

"No, you're not."

"I'm your boss's boss."

"Mark, I know that you have a birthmark shaped like Alberta on your right inner thigh, that you hate beets, and that you're ticklish. The 'respect me because I'm your boss's boss' argument is inconsequential."

"I _**love**_ it when you talk smart to me."

"Don't you have to go sew someone's face back together?"

Meredith looked between them like she was watching a tennis match as they bantered. They were an actual couple, not just an ongoing booty call. In fact, they were pretty much her and Derek before all hell broke loose with Addison, only they actually _**earned**_ the whole Romeo and Juliet label. What with the whole forbidden love factor and everyone taking sides about them…

"Yeah, so I'm gonna go now. I'm supposed to be on Hunt's rotation." she blurted during a lull, standing up quickly.

Lexie looked at her with kind eyes and the words came out before she could stop them.

"Do you want to come over for dinner sometime? I…I'm sure Izzie could make something that won't kill you. You're allergic to eggs, aren't you?"

"Hey, you remembered. Progress!" Lexie cheered teasingly, making her laugh. Her "evil" half-sister was funny. Who knew?

"Um, yeah…so dinner? You and Mark could come over and eat and he and Derek could hang out and do manly things while we get drunk and dance around the living room badly."

"Bad drunken dancing sounds fun. How about Friday?"

"Okay. Great. So…um, bye!"

It had been an awkward conversation but it was still a conversation and she had managed to apologize between rambles, which had been her goal. She was proud of that. Pretty damn proud…

It really _**was**_ progress.

_**/**_

"Can I talk to you?"

"Talk or Fight? Because if it's Fight, I'll change my mind about Mark keeping you not dead."

"I…I just want to talk."

"Okay. Grab some charts and we'll talk and write."

The mistrust in her gaze hurt more than the covered bruises around his neck but George O'Malley was determined not to walk away until they had hashed this out. He had been the screw up in this situation and he wanted to fix it and maybe get his friend back. Maybe. It's not like he deserved her friendship…

"Um, your books are in a box in the Crapartment. I…I could bring them over to the Archfield if you want."

"I've been meaning to come get them myself but after what you said to me when I left, I figured that you would've burned them by now."

George winced and replied, "I want to say that I'm sorry for that. I've been sorry for it since it happened but Sloan slamming me into a wall yesterday gave me enough balls to say it. I've been a jerk to you. A jealous jerk."

"Yes, you have. I thought you were my friend, George."

"I am! I was but…stuff happened."

"Stuff involving me getting a huge crush on you and you ignoring it."

"I didn't _**ignore**_ it. I was just…waiting for the right time."

"Like when we were as old as the Chief?"

"No. I was trying to fix my career. After what I did to Callie and after I got my second chance at the Test, I wanted to be the perfect surgeon. I wanted to get things secure before getting into another relationship but, then you got with Sloan."

"I chose Mark because he didn't treat me like I was some Meredith Grey knockoff who needed to go back to wherever she came from. I chose Mark because he actually took the time to talk to me and not just to get my pants. I chose Mark because at the end of the day, we have the same issues and we get each other. You being distant was just the catalyst. You were my best friend and you dropped me like a bad habit. Mark was there and he turned out to be just the sort of friend and man I was looking for in you. Actually, he turned out to be better."

Hearing all his inner night demons from her really hurt but it was a hurt he would embrace. He had brought it upon himself by being so shortsighted. Careers weren't everything and what he had done was ruin not only a chance for a long relationship with an incredible woman but he had lost a very close friend.

"I get it. I really do. I've been an ass for a long time now and I need to fix that. I don't know how yet but I'll make it up to you and everyone else, Lexie. I promise."

Her body language finally softened and she squeezed his free hand.

"It'll take a while but I think you can do it. In the meantime, try to stay out of the line of fire for a while, okay? I love surgery but having to piece you back together like a Mr. Potato Head isn't exactly the kind I had in mind."

George chuckled and nodded, taking the completed charts from her.

"I got these. You just…I don't know. Just go do something that's not charts."

She smiled softly at him and even hugged him briefly.

"Thanks, George."

The pain flared up again as she walked away but he still smiled.

He had made a little bit more progress.

_**/**_

"So, what are your thoughts about today? About Meredith and George?" she asked as she wrestled her hair into a big white clip.

He spat out his toothpaste and replied bluntly, "Big Grey, I believe. O'Malley, not so much. He's been a prick since long before you showed up, Lex and I think he'll be a prick long after you've gone on to bigger, better things."

"He might prove you wrong."

"I can count on one hand the people who have managed to do that and he ain't one of them."

"Yet."

"Jeez, you're optimistic." he remarked with disgust as he turned down the bed.

"And you're bitter. We've got a whole yin-yang thing going on here."

"I'm not bitter, I'm jaded. There's a difference."

"Only in the way you spell it."

"Smartass."

"I'll take being a smartass over being a dumbass any day. Smartassery's more fun."


End file.
